Saturday, November 14, 2009

NICARAGUA

Hola
November 14th 2009 400pm

Here I am finally in CentroAmerica a long long way from Victoria where it´s cold and rainy. It took me 52 hours to get here having journeyed through Seattle,Houston, Managua and finally my current destination of San Juan Del Sur...
I would like to go back to where I left off upon my arrival in Chicago as there is a few things I´d like to talk about my visit there but I will come back at a later time ....
Right now though the last 36 hours have been an extremely visceral experience...Even though I don´t yet know the language I´m already thinking in Spanish!!I am picking things up daily and with my knowledge of French and latin I find it quite easy to understand the written word...Speaking and listening to people talk is another matter though...I am truly a stranger in a strange land.
The trip from Houston to Managua was fraught with a mix of anxiety,fear hope and a serious case of¨"What the hell am I doing now at this point in my life".
Just before arriving I couldn´t help but notice how few lights there were on the ground as we were descending the night sky...I had just spent the better part of 3 hours talking to a Born Again Christian who tried to put the fear of God into me and I must admit it gave me a slight sense of foreboding...
Going through customs was a snap...no checking of luggage...( and I realized I wasn´t a young hippy anymore trying something dodgy at a border crossing) I was just an older man traveling to a third world country with all his papers in order so I really had nothing to worry about....
The big shock was stepping outside from an air-conditioned airport.The heat was quite opressive even at 900pm and the cacophony of taxi drivers and other transportation types along with the spanish chatter of most of the disembarking travelers was quite overwhelming...
I was being picked up by the Holiday Inn Shuttle and after about 15 minutes of wondering what the hell I was doing he found me and we were on our way.
Half an hour of driving through the Managuan slums brought us to an oasis of North American style tranquility. Now, I was ready for a native experience but not yet please...I had been travelling for 26 hours and although I´d had a good night´s sleep in Seattle I was still fatigued, not least from the stress of not knowing what was going to happen next.
Now ,even though I was in a third world country I certainly couldn´t tell by the prices that were presented to me from check in to breakfast the next morning; $80us for the hotel and $12 dollars tax!Then the next morning my buffet breakfast was a whopping $16! I was glad to be getting out of there by 10am, but my excitement was shortlived as my ride to San Juan Del Sur didn´t show and still hadn´t shown by 200pm...I kept trying to get a hold of my hosts and finally by 245pm I did...They thought I was coming on Saturday!..Quite clearly my emails had said Friday the thirteenth and as it turned out the hotel calender also said the same thing.So, after 7 hours of daring not to leave the hotel for fear of missing my ride Ramon showed up and we were on our way...and let me say that in no way was I upset about the experience...I just kept saying I was on Nicaraguan time now and this was the type of inconvenience one put up with here on occasion.
The ride from Managua at rush our was as I said before quite a visceral experience...The sight of 8 year old Nican kids juggling at intersections as well as all types begging in so many different ways was quite unsettling.I don´t think there is unleaded gas there yet and the smell on the road was headache inducing.The buses were all packed right out the doors and the bus stops were packed from one end of the street to the other.There were 3 wheeled taxis and bicycles everywhere.By this time I had heard so much spanish as I already said was starting to think in spanish and had no idea what I was thinking!
The ride to the hotel took 2 and a half hours and the sounds of the cicadas in the trees as we whizzed by at 100kms. an hour were quite noticeable. Also the traffic rules were generally diregarded by most and I noticed that when we approached oncoming traffic the cars and trucks would turn ON there high beams!
We arrived at the hotel at 730pm last night (Friday) bloody but unbowed and I have to say that Ramon my driver was excellent all the way...aggressive when need be and just the opposite when danger was present.I had a wonderful dinner of chicken cashew stirfry and 2 beers whent to bed with absolutely no idea of where I was or what I was about to see the next morning with my own 2 eyes.Now I´ve taken a bunch of pictures but so far my haven´t figured out how to upload them to my blog so we´ll have to wait until I figure it out or find someone to lend me a hand.
My hosts are a family originally from San Diego who´ve lived in Mexico and Nicaragua for most of the last 20 years...April and her son Brandon and April´s mother whose name escapes me at the moment...They have the most beuatiful boutique hotel on the outskirts of San Juan Del Sur comprising of 11 rooms and a restaurant.When I arrived it was dark and had no idea where we were situated but this morning I stepped outside and was greeted by the site of the most beautiful bay down below and off in the distance.The buildings are a Southwestern style of bright blues yellows and orange and my digs are small and austere (blues ,yellows and tiles everywhere) but everything I need while I´m here: kitchen ,sitting room ,bathroom and bedroom (furnished)...
So this brings us right to this moment in time-345pm on Saturday afternoon.The temp is about 90 plus and humid...I´m overdressed but would rather avoid a sunburn thank you very much...I think I´m going to go look for some expats and have a beer......
More about my trip to the states next.....

1 comment:

Denis Seguin said...

Sounds great David...I want to see photos when you can